GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – This week marked 110,000 COVID-19 checks administered on the drive-thru web site off Stantonsburg Highway in Greenville.
Vidant Well being officers stated they don’t see the movement slowing down any time quickly.
“We nonetheless do nicely over 2,000 checks a day all through our well being system,” stated Dr. Dave Harlow, vice chairman of Operations of Allied Well being. “We do over 600 proper right here a day on common, and what that tells us is COVID remains to be endemic within the inhabitants and we nonetheless have a problem.”
The drive-thru testing web site is certainly one of Vidant’s 13 testing websites throughout its well being system. This specific one is for asymptomatic testing, which is why Harlow predicts they’ll proceed to see excessive numbers of testing for surveillance functions.
“We’re going to do testing for eventualities,” Harlow stated. “We are going to take a look at individuals who wish to journey, particularly abroad. A variety of employers and governmental companies require folks that haven’t been vaccinated to get periodic testing. That’s one thing that didn’t exist about six months in the past, and that’s been added to the portfolio of testing we do.”
Whereas there’s a regular variety of folks getting examined exterior each day, Harlow stated the state of affairs on the within of the hospital is comparable.
“(Thursday) we had one thing like 170 sufferers in our system that have been COVID constructive and within the hospital,” he stated.
This 100,000 testing milestone isn’t one thing Harlow anticipated a 12 months in the past after they opened the location in October. He stated the milestone is about celebrating the exhausting work of frontline healthcare staff.
“This isn’t a very in style place to must work, it’s a COVID unit by definition,” Harlow stated. “About one in seven individuals who come via this line take a look at constructive, so you understand in case you work on this line, you can be uncovered to COVID.”
The testing heart is a testomony to these staff.
“It represents a dedication of people who work right here as a result of you’ll acknowledge, that is very uncommon by way of healthcare,” Harlow stated. “You don’t usually present healthcare in a car parking zone except its underneath duress and these guys have been right here.”
So long as the pandemic is round, Harlow stated there might be a necessity for testing, so that they plan to remain open to offer this service for folks in the neighborhood. The drive-thru is open Monday via Friday, 7 a.m. to six p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
